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A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

jessepollak.me

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Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#81

Post by lukifer »

the_bear wrote: post #79
ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

This is one of those ideas that you really have to think from both sides. On the consumer side I get this really cool App which I click "I wanna buy a foo" and Blam! every place that both sells and has a foo in stock is right there on the page. Awesomesauce! Ok now look at it from the vendor side. I'm running my store, I need to make $2500 - $25,000 a day to make payroll. I carry a bunch of products, I don't make the…

This seems a lot like saying that my business should elect not to show up in Google search results just because we're not the #1 result (or that a product shouldn't be listed on Amazon if it's not the cheapest, etc.). Pro: You get a free inventory system Pro: You show up on local search results Will some (maybe most) people go to Walmart instead? Sure, but those are people already using the app, which means that if y…

There's no such thing as a free inventory system. How will it integrate with their POS? Handle refunds, human error, and "shrinkage"? Unless you're delivering an end-to-end turnkey retail solution, an inventory tracker isn't worth much on its own.

It's an interesting core idea, but it needs to account for the path dependence of existing retailers and how ill-equipped they are to adopt something totally new.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#82

Post by cbsmith »

This is basically the same space as local search, except local search doesn't require retailers to integrate their inventory system or share their inventory information. They just need to pick what kinds of searches they would want to receive traffic from.

It's easier for the store, easier for the customer, etc. The odds of a retailer not having something in stock are low enough it isn't a big problem, and you have a phone right there so you can call to verify.

Most importantly, the barrier to entry is extremely low... and yet, it's very hard to get enough content to make the service really work. So adding that more complex barrier to entry is NOT going to make things better.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#83

Post by the_bear »

lukifer wrote: post #81
the_bear wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems a lot like saying that my business should elect not to show up in Google search results just because we're not the #1 result (or that a product shouldn't be listed on Amazon if it's not the cheapest, etc.). Pro: You get a free inventory system Pro: You show up on local search results Will some (maybe most) people go to Walmart instead? Sure, but those are people already using the app, which means that if y…

There's no such thing as a free inventory system. How will it integrate with their POS? Handle refunds, human error, and "shrinkage"? Unless you're delivering an end-to-end turnkey retail solution, an inventory tracker isn't worth much on its own. It's an interesting core idea, but it needs to account for the path dependence of existing retailers and how ill-equipped they are to adopt something totally new.

I agree that this would be a nightmare to build. There are many other problems as well (like how easy it would be to game the system).

However, my comment was directed at the parent who claimed that a business wouldn't want to use it even if the product did exist.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#84

Post by hef19898 »

citricsquid wrote: post #6

This is a terrible idea[see edit]. What incentive is there for any store to use this system when they're providing their data in a single easy to query location? Brick and mortar stores have custom because of brand loyalty, a large part of brand loyalty is saying "I shopped around twice and both times x was cheaper, I'll assume x is always cheaper and use them". Now imagine if every time a consumer wanted something t…

If you think it the other way round, you give local stores a way bundling together. and size sometimes matter. add some "buy over the internet" function with a partnership with local courrier services and you have a potential threat to the likes of wal-mart and even amazon. yes, amazon.

Why so? because they are doing the same thing, more or less. the biggest advantage amazon has is logistics and range. but sometimes locality matters. I think there will be enough place for both approaches.

But this idea will only work if you work out two things: sales for market penetration and to gain acceptance by local stores and logistics. Both issues aren't trivial but the idea certainly has potential, HUGE potential. In more than one way. I can imagine that as "your social and local amazon alternative". And the main benefit smaller stores have is a means to ultimately counter amazon in some way or the other. But again, convincing these stores, very hard, logistics, very hard. And that's exactly the reason why the potential is that big.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#85

Post by manmal »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #16

This is one of those ideas that you really have to think from both sides. On the consumer side I get this really cool App which I click "I wanna buy a foo" and Blam! every place that both sells and has a foo in stock is right there on the page. Awesomesauce! Ok now look at it from the vendor side. I'm running my store, I need to make $2500 - $25,000 a day to make payroll. I carry a bunch of products, I don't make the…

I think this downward spiral would not happen because of the location-based nature - or only if there are many stores in one area having the exact same products. If I need a product RIGHT NOW (why else would I fire up the app and look for it?) I will walk into the next store and pay perhaps up to 20% more than the average price. I remember the time when I often forgot my micro USB cable when going to Uni, so someday I walked into the (ridiculously expensive) tech store near Uni and bought another one. Had I bought it over the internet I might have paid only half or third of what I paid there. This is also the reason why expensive lemonade stands at points of interest do so well - they are just THERE.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#86

Post by hef19898 »

mattm wrote: post #69
steve8918 wrote: post #54

I talked about something like this years ago to my sister, who actually owns a retail store. As most people indicated, stores do not want to let anyone else know what their inventories are, especially customers. But also, depending on the type of store you are, inventories are not as tight as you would think. Stores have a general idea of how much inventory they have on hand, but they never have an exact amount. And…

> they don't waste a lot of time making sure their inventory is extremely accurate. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this one of the reasons why Wal-Mart became so successful? They could track their inventory very accurately.

This THE reason why wal-mart, and in extention amazon, became that profitable and big. wal-mart tracked AND managed inventories to almost perfection. and amazon hired wal-mart supply chain experts pretty early on. you can the effects now. amazon is much more than just its website.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#87

Post by lotharbot »

citricsquid wrote: post #78
lotharbot wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most items that cost enough that one store has a $10 or more savings over another store, I'm already comparison-shopping or buying from amazon. Retailers who aren't already cutting their margins in your examples 2-3 are losing my business to the internet. Where's the value to the retailer here? If they're back to being competitive with amazon, I'm going to have the opportunity to realize it, and I'll go back to buyin…

> Most items that cost enough that one store has a $10 or more savings over another store, I'm already comparison-shopping or buying from amazon. Retailers who aren't already cutting their margins in your examples 2-3 are losing my business to the internet. Where's the value to the retailer here? If they're back to being competitive with amazon, I'm going to have the opportunity to realize it, and I'll go back to buy…

Maybe it's different for you, but where I live (in a largeish city in the US), most stores don't have direct competitors within easy walking distance. You've assumed a walk across the street, but out here it's probably a mile and a half drive and 2 unpleasant parking lots. That changes a lot of your scenarios -- while you'd be silly not to walk next door to save a few bucks, the time investment in many US cities is often too high to be worth going to cheaper shops. Looked at in another way, if I'm looking for something specific and I discover that I can get it from a store that is in close range, the value proposition of immediacy and reduced frustration for me can lead to a sale for that retailer even if their price isn't great.

You're also considering the value proposition symmetrically, when you should be considering it asymmetrically. That is, you're thinking "the store that sells this for $15 wouldn't use this app, because then the store selling it for $10 would steal all their business." That's a crappy value proposition for the $15 store, but a great one for the $10 store. Some stores might not use it, but those with better prices or better selections would basically consider it free advertizing.

Also, I'm pretty sure you're wrong about retailers not being able to compete if their prices are higher, and about this sort of app destroying those businesses. We already have this scenario with grocery stores, where you can compare them just by reading the paper (or the online ads), and yet certain more costly stores still survive. Maybe it's location/convenience, maybe it's unique selection, maybe it's customer service or return policies, or maybe it's that cute girl ringing up your groceries.

I think, ultimately, you're conceiving of this app as "how do I get the best price on X within a Y block radius?", whereas I'm conceiving of it as "can I get X from anywhere at all within a Y block radius?" and only secondarily "can I save money on X?" Phrased my way, there's an obvious value proposition for retailers.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#88

Post by simondlr »

Read this thread and the blog post, it seems everyone has had this idea. I've had my own thoughts about it. It's a difficult problem. There are various paths to get to that result, with most of them having to build on a network effect of the previous success. You have to provide value to both retailers, product owners and customers along the way.

An interesting way to approach it, which I don't think people has mentioned is to provide incentive for people to share/store their own shopping. Scan a slip with your phone and it stores it. Now you can easily create a new shopping list, and or remember what you bought.

Now you start building up this database. Now you go to retailers and say: Look, customers are using this app, why don't you make items available so people can search them before making their to-buy list?

As with any idea, this one has holes as well. How many people actually make to-buy lists? And would be willing to scan their slips to process what they bought? Interesting thought experiment none the less.

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#89

Post by elemeno »

lukeck wrote: post #76
fizx wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you think a little, this is "OpenTable for shopping." Apparently, all the restaurants hate opentable, but they feel compelled to use it, because their competitors do.

What do they hate about it? I'm trying to "walk a mile in their shoes" as another poster put it but am coming up blank.

I think that there's two things that the restaurants hate -

1) It costs them money which eats into their already thin profit margin.

2) It makes it harder to build a relationship with the customers since the customer has to opt-in to giving their e-mail address to the restaurant which they're less likely to do compared to being asked for an e-mail address if you're making a booking directly with the restaurant. Having e-mail addresses for customers is clearly valuable for a restaurant for the purposes of marketing and using things like special offers to increase demand during slower periods of the week/month/year etc.

3) If/When opentable breaks, they've got no access to their reservations - a problem you don't have with a traditional paper reservation book. You probably do have chaos though, if you're a busy restaurant!

Re: A $1 billion idea...that I know I'm not ready for

#90

Post by zobzu »

Meh, you need to have all shops having a perfect inventory. Granted that you make the best software in the world for that (it doesn't take 10 years, it takes luck if anything), and that connects magically to all providers for restocks etc...

...you'd still need to make them use it and actually inventory stuff, click the buttons, etc. It's not that the idea is bad or anything. it's to actually make people use it. its not because its free that they will use it. they would if it was free AND you'd handle their inventory for them, and guarantee a benefit every month from that (yeah, that's impossible).

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